The Coffee Wiki:External links
While citations of reliable sources are necessary for a good article, external links to material not cited in the article should be a rare occurrence. It is neither practical nor appropriate for an article to contain links to sites which are merely related to the topic. Additionally, it is especially inappropriate for an editor to add links for commercial purposes. This document defines the cases in which external links are appropriate and some of the cases in which they are not. Appropriate uses of external links External links are appropriate in the following circumstances: # If the article is about an organization, person, or other entity, a link to the entity's primary Web site would be useful and appropriate. In most cases, the link should be singular, with a URL pointing to the home page of the entity. # If the article is about a particular document or other such material, it is appropriate to link to a copy of the document hosted on an official site. If no such official site exists, then it may be permissible to link to a copy of the material on a site of an authoritative source. # In rare cases, it may be appropriate to link to an interview with a subject or a review of a particular coffee. However, if the link is not appropriate for use as a citation, then these links should probably be avoided. Inappropriate uses of external links Below are some of the cases in which external links are not appropriate: # There is no circumstance under which it will be appropriate to add a link to a site with which you are affiliated in any capacity. This criteria will override all others. Even if the link would be appropriate under every other item in this document, if the editor has an affiliation with the linked site, it is not appropriate and should be removed immediately. # Under no circumstances will it be appropriate to link to a site on which the display of the material is a copyright violation. # It is almost never appropriate to add a link to a commercial site. If the link is to a page from which the user can purchase a product, the link is probably not appropriate. There are rare exceptions to this item, limited to commercial sites which have developed a reputation in the community as an authoritative source of unique information. If the same or similar information is available on an authoritative, non-commercial site, it should replace the commercial link. If the subject of the article is a commercial entity, links to the home page of the primary site for that entity will be allowed in most cases. # It is not appropriate to link to sites that are related to the subject through advocacy, criticism, or related endeavor. Such links would include fan sites (including blogs), sites opposed to the topic, and sites of entities of a similar nature to the topic. There may, however, be scenarios in which such sites could be used in a citation of material in the article. Other notes As mentioned earlier, non-citation, external links should be the exception. It should not be considered abnormal for an article to not have external links. Therefore if there is a question of whether the link should be included in an article, then it most likely the case that the link should not be included until consensus shows otherwise. The burden is on the person adding the link to show that it is appropriate. Category:Policy